Crimson Nights
by Blind-Eyes-That-See
Summary: In a time of eldest memory, the vampire king declared war on humanity. Their hunters were slaughtered. Their people were made little better than cattle. Their champion was forced to flee. But even in the deepest darkness, light shines through.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! If any of you have read my previous work, it tends to be humorous in nature. This is my attempt to break from that. I want any reviews you can throw at me, positive or negative, just make sure you frame them politely.

This is mainly going to focus on OCs, but canon characters will appear.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

**Did you know,**

**That they were once like us? **

**That eagles dawned their shadowed robes,**

**To walk among the crows? **

**Now as they step on our necks,**

**They stare down.**

**And as our lungs fill with blood,**

**We drown in their eyes.**

* * *

The chill light of dawn rose from the darkness to caress Rose's cheek. She stumbled forward, clutching her coat to her skin. Snow danced in her vision, dying against warmth. She breathed out a ragged and frozen breath, careful not to be loud.

The sun was just peaking through the night. It cast away the shadows with the ease of a king swatting dust. Beneath it, the city pulsed gently with life, though it seemed sleepy. Rose glanced about, drawing herself in closer to her garb. A dark, wool hood hid her features from the day.

This place was called Panis, "the breach" in the old tongue. Its ancient strength emanated from every building and tree, every stone and carving. Even at this hour, Rose couldn't go a block without seeing someone going about their business. Silently, to keep herself calm, she tried to remember what it had been called before. Old Porkland? New Yorkville… New York! That was it.

Rose picked up her pace. Her dark robes fluttered behind her like a faithful entourage, or a shadow. She was late. She was soooooo late. They were going to kill her. They were going to worry about her. And what was worse… they were going to come looking for her. She couldn't have that hanging over her head. She just couldn't.

As she raced on, she passed a stall. Its owner was tall and handsome, with African features and a well kept person. He squinted as the sun pressed itself against his skin, and he was already half done packing away his supplies for the day, but not even convenience stops a good salesman. He smiled his most charming, toothy smile, and stepped out in front of her.

"Hello young miss," he said, his smile widening. "Care for a souvenir? A tablet? A woman so lovely must really make sure to maintain her figure. You're so pleasantly thin; you must be on a diet. Indulge yourself a little. You've earned it." He pressed in closer.

Rose swerved to the side, stepping into the road for a brief moment. Her heart raced, and she could feel her blood pumping through every vein and artery in her body. She didn't stop.

But the salesman didn't give up. After a quick glance at the sun, he darted ahead of her, his smile still thick and luscious. "Darling, don't run off! You'll make a guy cry. Please, why not just try on one of these fabulous rings? Straight from the ruins of an old human jewelry store. An antique. C'mon." He reached out and gripped Rose's arm. She gasped and then pulled back.

"I'm a noble," she spat out. The man winced, and then stepped away. His eyes had widened, and his arms were waving about in apology.

"I'm so sorry. Please, my lady, let me take you to safety! The sun, it's probably unbearable for you. Oh God, I'm so sorry. Please, please forgive me. I'm sor-,"

"Don't worry about it," she muttered as she ran off. The man waited for what must have been minutes before he was calm enough to continue putting away his wares.

Rose rushed on, the fury of day swelling in her breast. She was so cold. The crunching of freshly fallen snow beneath her feet filled the cold world. But it would all be over soon. She just needed to get to the safe house. Nothing could stop her now.

When she reached the end of the block, she hung a right and almost slipped on the snow. Before she could complete the fall however, she caught herself and went on.

After a few minutes, she saw it. The church rose high and powerful in the air, its stained glass windows shining against the light of dawn. Its shadow fell forward like an outreaching arm, calling to her. She was almost there…

A hand grasped her shoulder like a vice. Her momentum shot the right half of her body forward, and then she fell into a pile of flesh and clothing. Her crimson hair spilled out from her hood, and she blinked up with fearful blue eyes. Her pretty face was contorted into a show of confusion. The dark man glanced down at her. His charming grin turned up into a smirk.

"Nobles run faster than that, bitch." He knelt down and grabbed at her neck. A strangled cry escaped before all she could do was gurgle her horror. "By my account, you owe me some money. And maybe a little blood." He licked his lips. When his tongue retreated back into his mouth it revealed a long, pinky thin claw. His eyes raged happily.

Something tensed inside him. Slowly, something dawned in his head. He sniffed the chilling air as the snow melted under Rose's body. He pressed himself in closer, and gave one more sniff. Afterwards, he paused. When he spoke, it was softly, and with a razor beneath his voice. "Just what are you?"

Bang.

The world went crimson. The gunshot sounded through the air, thudding into the man's side. He rolled off of Rose, leaving a red trail in the tainted snow. Before his attacker could get him again, he was on his feet.

A tall, lanky dark haired man- man, he couldn't have been over seventeen- glared out from a trench coat. Clasped in his hand was a long, thin handgun. It was smoking gently. "You have to the count of three to leave before I kill you."

The man sneered. "Who do you think you are? She lied about being a noble. That's a crime you know. I have every right to bring her in. She's lucky I didn't-"

"One."

He lifted an eyebrow, and then crossed his chest. "Oh, come on. We both know bullets aren't going to be enough to kill me. Let's stop acting like children and-."

"Three." A blast of scarlet burst from the muzzle of the gun, rippling and twisting itself so that it seemed like the splattering of blood against air. When it reached its target, it has formed itself into a cross. With the fury of a charging lion, it rammed itself straight into the dark man. He had time for only one scream before the fires of the weapon dragged him down. When the light died away, he had been reduced to a pile of dust. A cook, gentle breeze threw him to the winds and into the belly of Gaea.

"I never was all that good at math."

Rose had managed to rise from the snow. Her robes were soaked, and she had been chilled to the bone. "Thanks Tristan," she muttered.

There was a deafening silence. Tristan smoothed down his unruly hair. His teeth were clenched into an uneasy frown. "You just had to bring him all the way back here, didn't you?" Rose was silent. She watched her feet as if they could provide an answer. He continued.

"They're going to smell the blood for miles. Even from here. Even now. Did you even think of that? Why did you say you were a noble? The glamour? You could have been a perfectly normal one of these bloodsuckers and feigned tiredness, but no, it had to be a noble."

"I wasn't thinking. Tristan I'm sorry-"

"Exactly, you weren't fucking thinking. Now we have to uproot everything. Do you know how much danger you've put everyone into? We could all die because of this. God damn it." He turned away, back into the church, a shadow swallowed in light. Rose just kept watching her feet for a moment. She knew that she would have to move eventually. She knew that she would have to move eventually. She knew that she was putting them in more danger. It was just that standing there in the snow, as it fell to drape her shoulders and chill her head, she just wanted didn't want to move. Maybe if she just stood there forever, the vampires would skip her over. Maybe she would die in snow. Maybe she would freeze over, and one day some artisan would come by and carve her into something beautiful. She'd screwed up again.

For the second time that day, a hand grasped her shoulder. Unlike the first time, however, this one did not bring any anxiety. It was soft and kind, and a second after its arrival two powerful arms draped themselves across her back. A man placed his chin over her head. To an outsider, the action would look completely inappropriate. In reality, it was. In ancient times, such a move would have been known as a glomp, and would have also earned the reaction of a swift kick to the crotch. But this was just Dave.

"Watcha doiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin?"

Rose shuffled her feet. "Moping."

"Hoooooooooooow cooooooooooooome?"

"Cause I ruined everything. Again." His arms grasped around her belly and twirled her like she was a child. When she looked up at him, it was like staring at a calmer, less lined version of Tristan. He placed his right hand atop her head and mussed it peacefully.

"We were going to have to move again in a week. Bro's just cranky. Don't worry about him." Rose tolerated having her hair mussed like an old veteran. It was just part of the _generally _pleasant experience of talking with Dave.

"He's such a dick."

Dave laughed. It was a pleasant sound. "Indeed. You'd be too if you had his job. Now go in and get your stuff. There's another church about half a mile north. It won't even take that long to move the stuff, and I'll warn the others so they don't show up unannounced. We're going to be fine. This is our time." Rose took it all in stride. She could feel tears forming at the edges of her eyes, but she didn't let herself show them. She smiled.

"Thanks Dave." The snow kept falling. The blood stained the floor. The shadow of the church cradles its children like a protective mother.

They would come. That was certain. But in this place, at this time, the vampires could not catch them.

This was still their world.

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Not enough of our dear Mangaka friend's characters? Don't worry!Next chapter will have some of them.


	2. Chapter 2

The pureblood king is blind. His sight has drowned away in uncried tears.

~ General Akatsuki, before his assault on Moscow.

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The storm raged like an insolent child, thunder booming and lightning flashing above the constant soak of rain. As the sun fell from its place on high, crimson streaks bled through the dark clouds, only to die away as time moved its gentle, indomitable hand. A single building rose up to pierce the belly of the sky. It was white, and clean, and beautiful, with a creeping thread of taint beneath it. Atop it, its master stared down at the world.

Kaname was used to such weather. He had seen more storms than any human had seen days. His dark, unruly hair whipped about, and he ignored the biting chill. His chiseled beauty reminded one of nothing more than a Greek God. Perhaps he was. He would not have looked out of place in the kingdom of Hades, ushering souls about, staring out into his sad, gloomy world with even sadder eyes…

When he had returned to the world, he had found such interesting new ideas and inventions. One of them that he particularly liked was a game called chess. Its view of the warfare was so simplistic, so wrong, that it was impossible for it to not contain just a grain of truth. In everything he did, he always felt like the king, surveying his pieces as they went off to the slaughter. The most delightful experience of the entire game was catching an important piece; some knight or queen, for the simple price of a pawn. He ran a hand through his moist hair and sighed.

Why had he had this place built again? The image, he supposed. A king needs a castle after all. And Whitestone was the greatest castle of all. Stone gates designed painstakingly by the last few human artisans, enough space to hold an army of vampires three times over, and a solid wall of titanium two feet under the decoration. If he had had it back in the war, it might have… done nothing. He would have broken it into pieces. Kaname learned early on not to underestimate him.

He took a deep breath, and the cool air mingled with his being. How many breaths had he taken in his life? So many…

A sound that was not thunder or the machinations of his own mind filled his ears. It was a light pattering, slightly thicker and stronger than the rain striking against the stone. It sounded again, this time louder. And then again. And then again. "Hello lord Kuran." Kaname didn't bother to turn around.

"Hello Aidou."

The blonde's face was all seriousness. "It's Minamoto and Nul. They've escaped again."

Kaname chuckled. "Escaped? You act as if they're prisoners in this place. Where have they gone this time?"

Aidou grumbled something to himself, and then answered. "I haven't been able to look for myself, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say they're out in the town again. Maybe they're sampling some of the local bars. I don't know." There was silence for a moment. And then a deep, uncharacteristic laugh filled the world.

"My sons. Well, you'd best go then." Kaname waited. When he did not hear the immediate clip clop of the noble walking away, his hackles raised on their own. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. He turned around. "You didn't just come here to have me tell you how to do your job. What is it? What's going on?"

Aidou averted his gaze, but the command in the Pureblood's voice was too strong. He felt his will melting away. "We've just received a report from a patrol in northern Italy." Kaname's ears picked up, and attention flared in his crimson eyes.

"What does it say? What happened?" Aidou paced about for a bit, his gaze fixed on his feet.

"Lord Kaname, it appears that- well you see- umm." He looked up, and Kaname could see that he was chewing at his lip. His eyes closed, and his voice was solemn. "They were slaughtered. Every single one of them. They're all dead, my lord." Silence.

More silence.

And then-

Kaname burst out into laughter. Aidou looked up, a mixture of fear and resentment high in his features. "My lord?" Aidou wouldn't talk to him for days. If Yuki could have seen him, she would have slapped him across the face. But it didn't matter. He had finally slipped up. Pawns had been slaughtered.

And now the knight was in check…

* * *

Nul looked through the crowd, disappointment clear in his face. His light, sharp features were hidden within the shadows of his hood. It really just wouldn't do to have a prince in a common pub. He turned to the barkeep.

"Another one of these appletinis. And fast." The man was aged, with a tired look in his eyes. He had been at his job since the war. He knew when someone was under age by just the look of them. And without a doubt, this kid shouldn't have been drinking. It was just whenever he said anything, the barkeeper couldn't seem to refuse him. It was so odd. He hadn't felt this way since… Ah, but that wasn't important. He had to get that damn appletini.

With quick, experienced hands, he gathered the ingredients and stirred them together in a garish glass. He looked up at the young customer. "Human this time too, I trust?" The boy nodded, and the barkeeper produced a single shot glass from beneath his workstation. It was filled to the top with a sickly sweet crimson liquid. Without hesitation he poured it in, and mixed. Then he handed it over.

Nul took it without a word and then turned to the man beside him. He was tall, with a lanky build that was downplayed by the fact that he was hunched down. Bangs of unruly hair peaked their way out from his hood. His voice was meek and soft. "We should go now."

Nul took a sip of his drink and eyed his brother up and down. "Why?"

Minamoto looked about, his pale crimson eyes shaking. "I don't like this place. What if someone wants to attack us?"

Nul raised an eyebrow at his brother. "Well, so what? If they want to commit suicide that's their business. You worry too much Mina."

Yet the other vampire was not satisfied. "I just don't think-"

Nul sighed. "Listen, bro, watch this." He turned away from his brother and tapped the shoulder of a man sitting next to him. His eyes were glazed over from work, and he stood a good head taller than either of the boys. A deep, guttural growl escaped from his throat. He looked like he was looking for a fight.

"What?"

"Give me that drink of yours."

"Okay," said the man, and without hesitation, he gave it over.

Nul passed it down to Mina. He winked. "Easy, no?"

Mina said nothing for a moment. He just stared hopelessly into his glass. "I don't like this stuff. It tastes horrible. Why are we drinking it?"

Nul frowned. "Because that's what adults do! They drink beer and human blood and they sit around picking fights and they have adventures. But this bar is so depressing. No one interesting is here. Not even any pretty girls. What kind of bar doesn't have pretty girls? Bagh."

Mina had grown silent again. Nul couldn't see his face, but he knew his brother. Underneath that hood he would be blushing. He smiled, and then stood up. "You're right though. There's nothing for us here. Let's go." Grateful, Mina joined his brother. Just before they could leave, however, a voice stopped them. They turned. It was the barkeeper. His face was contorted into a picture of rage.

"You forgot to pay."

The brothers exchanged a look. "Pay?"

The barkeeper continued on. "Yes, pay. You bought something from me. Took my supplies. Do you think you just get that for nothing? Pay up!" The two paced about in thought. Such a case was not in their experience, but judging from the rage on the man's face, even Nul's silky pureblood voice wouldn't be enough. What was this "paying" thing that he was talking about? A blond haired mass of frayed nerves burst into the building. Aidou searched about. His breathing was heavy. When his blue eyes caught sight of the boys, his heart stopped.

"You!"

"Crap," muttered Nul as he made a move to leave. Mina caught his wrist.

"We should stay brother. We'll just make him madder if we leave." Reluctantly, he agreed, and then turned to face the frantic noble. "Hello uncle Aidou," he said in a low, calm voice.

"Hello? Hello?! You two have disobeyed your father's orders. AGAIN! He's going to kill me, and then he's going to resurrect me, and then he's going to kill me again, and again, and again, again…" his voice trailed off into the day. The barkeeper took in the scene for awhile and then coughed.

"Hey. Are you going to be paying for these two?"

Aidou looked the man over, and then gave another glare at his charges. "Honestly. Why would you waste your time with this trash? If you want to get drunk off your ass, there's fine wine back in the castle to do it with. I'll never understand you Nul… and I know it's you Nul! Stop dragging your brother into this crap."

The barkeeper coughed again, and Aidou turned to him. "Oh fine, what's their tab."

"A hundred thousand yen."

"A hu- a hundred thousand?! Did they pin you to the bar and drink your blood?

Mina looked miserable. "I'm sorry uncle Aidou."

"Sorry doesn't begin to cover this. You two, you, you…"

"Oh, boys will be boys, Aidou. Don't worry about it." The voice came from nowhere and everywhere. It was calm and quiet, with a hint of mischief wedged beneath it. It was as familiar and comforting to the boys as their own breathing. Aidou looked like he had been set on fire.

A shock of bats flooded the room. Their sleek, dark forms flew and bit, condensing near the center. When they joined together they formed a short, elegant body. It flashed for an instant, and then the pureblood queen stood among the trash. Her long hair was uncovered, and complemented her dark, gothic style dress well. She smiled sweetly.

Instantly, everyone in the bar was on their knees. The barkeeper was shaking in fear. "My lady- my queen, please, I didn't mean any offense. I, it's just, it's on the house. Just please-"

"It's quite alright. I believe this will cover it." Without bothering to count, she reached into her purse and pulled out a single thick wad of cash. She tossed it onto the counter. The man took it in his hands, nervously, and his heart stopped. There must have been at least five hundred thousand yen there.

"Thank you milady! The Kurans are always welcome here. It is my duty and honor to serve," he said. But they had stopped listening.

Aidou was still glaring at the boys. The queen looked over here sons. "Had enough fun for the day?"

"Yes mother," they said as one.

She brought a finger to her lips in thought. "Oh. That's too bad."

Nul looked up. His eyes danced. "Why?"

Yuki's smile turned mischievous. "Well, your father's noticed just how antsy you've been lately, so he planned an adventure for you. He's waiting back at home. But I suppose I'm going to have to go back and tell him you're not interested."

Nul's grin threatened to break his face in half.

* * *

Yeah, they're Kaname's sons. I'll try not to make them too mary sue. I think I'm going to drop the rating down to T until I decide it's worth being anything else. If you have any suggestions for how you can make this better, plot or writing wise, I'm all ears.


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